Book Synopsis:
Two centuries apart, two lonely women seek a place to call home…
Cornwall, England, 2015
Nomadic project manager Anna Pritchard has arrived in the village of Porthnevek to oversee the construction of a trendy new glamping site. But with many members of the local community strongly opposed to the development, she quickly finds herself ostracised and isolated.
Seeking to ease her loneliness, Anna begins volunteering at a nearby National Trust house in Trelissick, once owned by the aristocratic Daniell family. In her new role, Anna soon feels her attachment to both Porthnevek and Trelissick deepening. And as she spends more and more time steeped in local history, it seems that the past and the present are beginning to collide…
Belgium, 1815
After losing her brother in the Battle of Waterloo, French army seamstress Thérèse Ruguel is taken to London by war artist Thomas Chalmers, becoming his reluctant muse. But with Thomas’s mother unhappy with the arrangement, Thérèse is soon sent to Cornwall as a lady’s maid to Elizabeth Daniell, a kindly relative of the Chalmers family.
Able to speak only a little English — and with the other servants suspicious of her — Thérèse feels lost and alienated. And when she discovers her brother may still be alive, she must decide whether to continue with her new life in England, or brave the dangerous journey back to her homeland…
What became of Thérèse? Can Anna unearth the ghosts of the past?
And has Anna finally found where she belongs…?
The Forgotten Maid is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase your copy using the links below.
My Review:
I’m a huge fan of this author so was very excited to be invited onto the blog tour for The Forgotten Maid, her latest book. Even more so when I realised it was a dual timeline story set in Cornwall, two of my favourite things. I was definitely not disappointed as once again the author has written an intriguing and captivating read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The story follows Anna in the present day as she moves to Cornwall to try to find a place to belong and Therese in the 1800’s who’s grieving for the brother she lost in the Napoleonic wars. I did prefer Therese’s story a little more than Anna’s as I didn’t know much about the Napoleonic wars before reading this book and I always love learning new things. The author does a great job of describing the impact the war had on the women who were left behind which I thought was very clever. It was also interesting to learn more about the Regency period outside of the balls and social events that they are famous for. In this book we are taken below the stairs and I found it fascinating to learn more about the lives of the servants there. It was particularly interesting to see what life was like for woman servants at that time though quite shocking at times to see how different it was from now.
I thought the author did a great job of setting the scene in this book as I felt her descriptions helped bring Cornwall to life. I felt I could hear the waves and feel that wonderful coastal wind in my face. There was one particularly dramatic scene set in an a and mine where her fabulous descriptions sent a shiver down my spine as I didn’t like the claustrophobic atmosphere down there.
Overall I really liked this book and raced through it in a couple of days. The two storylines are well developed and I liked the way they ran alongside each other. The author doesn’t switch timelines too quickly which gives the reader lots of time to get to know the characters and their circumstances so that I felt more invested in the story, caring about what happens to the characters. The two stories slowly come together to a very dramatic ending which I wasn’t expecting.
Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Sapere for my copy of this book via netgalley. If you are a fan of dual timeline historical fiction then I highly recommend this book!
About The Author:
Jane Cable writes romance with a twist for Sapere Books, and The Forgotten Maid her first novel set in her adopted county of Cornwall. She is lucky enough to have been married to the love of her life for more than twenty-five years, and loves spending time outdoors, preferably close to the sea on the wild and rugged north Cornwall coast.
She also writes emotional women’s fiction as Eva Glyn, published by One More Chapter.
Connect with Jane:
Website: http://janecable.com
Facebook: Jane Cable
Twitter: @JaneCable
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